RED HILL - If only a few more shots had dropped through the hoop for Upper Perkiomen, Tuesday night's District 1-AAA girls basketball opening-round contest might have ended differently. But the Indians struggled with their shooting much of the night, especially as they fell behind by eight points during a nervous first quarter, and their best season in a long, long time came to an end with a 49-44 loss to visiting Gwynedd Mercy Academy.

Holly Crossin scored 11 for eighth-seeded Upper Perk (13-11), which trailed the entire time except for one tie and a single one-point lead, and Stacey Auckland followed with 10 points. Erica DeCandido topped the ninth-seeded Monarchs (11-13) - who will travel to No. 1 Villa Maria for a quarterfinal contest on Friday - with 13 points, including 7-for-8 shooting from the line in the fourth quarter, and Bailey Greenberg contributed 11 points and a game-high 11 rebounds.

'We were pretty nervous,' said Auckland, who went over the 1,000-point mark for her career less than two weeks ago. 'We were all hoping it wasn't going to be our last game. Those nerves got to us in the beginning.'

'We did have a lot of nerves in the first quarter,' said Indian coach Pete Sovia. 'I'm proud of the team. I knew as soon as we got the nerves out, we'd start playing some ball. The kids played hard. It was a big-game atmosphere.'

Upper Perk missed its first six shots and turned the ball over six times while falling behind 7-0 before Rachael Keeney (eight points, six rebounds) scored off an offensive rebound with 2:10 left in the first quarter. The Indians trailed 11-3 after a quarter, but Crossin knocked down a three-pointer from the top of the circle and then banked in a basket off an inbounds pass to make it 11-8.

Then Gwynedd went on a 10-2 run to open its largest lead of the half at 21-10 and was on top 23-15 at the break and 32-20 after three minutes of the third quarter.

But Danni Moser (four points, six rebounds) started the comeback with a driving basket, Kim Kachmar (9 points) drilled a three-point bomb from the left corner, and Crossin sank two from the line to cut the deficit to five.

And by then the jitters were definitely gone for the Indians.

'Once we started playing our game and shooting and making our shots and playing better defense and getting up and down the court,' said Auckland. 'We were all starting to be ourselves.'

Upper Perk came back to tie at 34-34 when Morgan Aldinger threw in a buzzer-beater to end the third quarter and took its only lead of the night at 42-41 when Keeney rebounded a missed free throw underneath and hit a layup with 3:33 to go. But Gwynedd went right back on top with a pair from the line by Jenna Raschiatore, Bridget Coleman (seven points) sank a baseline jumper off a pass from Greenberg and then made one from the line, and Greenberg scored on a fast break to complete a run of seven points and give the visitors a 48-42 advantage with less than a minute to go.

'It could have gone either way,' said Sovia. 'We just needed to drop a couple more shots. We held them under 50. They had a lot of kids who could handle the ball and shoot fouls. I'm very proud of the team.'

Auckland, who will be attending Delaware Valley College, said the team thought it could do well with hard work.

'We wanted to make a point that we would have a chance,' she said. 'We worked hard every single day in practice and it worked.'

That resulted in the first Pioneer Athletic Conference playoff appearance since the 1993-94 season.

'The school support, the administration support, and the parental support was just terrific through the year,' said Sovia, who added that the Indians could not have accomplished what they did without seniors Auckland, Kachmar, Keeney, Danielle Marinelli, and Danni Moser. 'They single-handedly pulled the program into one that is on the way up right now. They're five great kids. Captains Stacey Auckland and Danni Moser were just terrific leaders on and off the court.'

NOTES The Indians turned the ball over only six more times after the error-filled first six minutes, including no miscues in their come-from-behind 19-11 third quarter. ... Gwynedd shot 11-for-16 from the line in the fourth quarter, including seven in a row to start the period. ... Upper Perk shot 5-for-8 from the line, including 4-for-4 by Crossin. ... Christa Giordano added seven points and eight rebounds for the winners, who finished sixth in the Catholic Academies League.

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